Jess Borsi writes upper middle grade dark fantasy and scholarly work on rhetoric and affect—which aren't as dissimilar as they first might appear. She is currently a PhD Candidate in the Writing Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and earned an MFA from Florida International University. She grew up in a small town in northwest Florida with a donkey named Buttons, and now routinely rotates between writing about monsters in Hungarian bogs and cozy video games. Both include simulacra, something she wouldn't have anticipated a short time ago.